"Tim Shoppa"

A terminology question I suppose about the derivation of the term
"Superheterodyne" more than anything else:

Does the "Super" actually mean anything?


** Refers to the term " supersonic frequency " - the general name for any
frequency between the upper limit of the audible range ( 20kHz ) and the
lower limit of common radio transmission frequencies or "long waves" at
about 150kHz.

Is there a Subheterodyne?

** No.

Traditionally superhets mix a higher radio frequency down to a lower
IF frequency, but certainly in the past few decades radios with IF's
above the RF frequency have become very common in broadband
applications, and those are still called superhets, not subhets :-).


** The name now refers to any receiver that involves a frequency changer
stage prior to detection.

If you want to know the meaning of any term, you have to study how PEOPLE
used it - both in the past and the present.

Only complete fools and radio hams study the words themselves in isolation
and try to de-construct them.


...... Phil